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Aston Martin V8 Vantage Series II spotted during 'Bond 25' filming

James Bond is known for piloting all sorts of cars from Aston Martin, Lotus, and even BMW. His most famous is obviously the silver DB5 from the Goldfinger, which had various cameo appearances in some of the newer Bond films featuring Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. But for the latest installment to the series, it appears movie producers are going a bit more nostalgic. Norwegian news outlet Dagbladet reportedly caught wind of the movie's filming and production along Norway's scenic Atlantic Coast, where a later Aston Martin V8 Vantage Series II was spotted during a car chase cut. Diehard Bond fans would point out that the V8 Vantage from the 1970s and 1980s was Bond's vehicle in the films featuring Timothy Dalton as Bond, most notably "The Living Daylights." As seen from the exclusive photos and footage from Dagbladet, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage was being driven with some Toyota Land Cruisers and Range Rover Sports in pursuit. The brown Aston in use even had the same license plate as the one driven by Dalton's Bond: B549 WUU. This strongly implies that the V8 Vantage will make an appearance, in addition to the rumor that Bond will get an all-electric version of the Rapide. The next Bond film is rumored to be very nostalgic, especially since it's the 25th film of the franchise. Not much is specifically known however, besides the fact that Daniel Craig will return as James Bond while Rami Malek will take the role as the film's leading villain and antagonist. Supporting roles will be played by Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q, and Ralph Fiennes as M, as previously played in the last few movies. The latest film is directed by Cari Johi Fukunaga, who also directed HBO's "True Detective" and Netflix's hit series, "Maniac." Aston Martin also chimed in with its own nostalgic tribute to its role with James Bond with the launch of an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera that pays tribute to the franchise's sixth film ever, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Aston Martin owners rev up for possible sale or stock IPO

LONDON — Aston Martin's owners have hired financial advisory firm Lazard to prepare for a stock market listing or sale of the British sports car maker made famous by fictional spy James Bond, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Italian private equity fund Investindustrial and a group of Kuwaiti investors, who together own more than 90 percent of the marque, are hoping to cash in on a recovery in sales and are in the initial stages of a strategic review. They have hired investment bank Lazard to work on a preliminary plan and could either opt for an initial public offering (IPO) in the third or fourth quarter of 2018 or a trade sale, two of the sources said on Friday. A deal could value the maker of the sports car driven by Britain's Prince William on his wedding day at between 2 billion and 3 billion pounds ($4 billion), one of the sources said, adding a listing was the most likely option. However, no final decision had been taken and the investors could decide to retain control, the sources added. Investindustrial declined to comment while Aston Martin and Lazard did not return requests for comment. Adeem Investment, one of the Kuwaiti investors, was not immediately available. If successful, a float of Aston Martin would be a milestone deal for the 104-year-old car manufacturer and would follow the IPO of Italian sportscar maker Ferrari which made its Wall Street debut in 2015 amid strong investor demand. Investindustrial, led by founder Andrea Bonomi, bought 37.5 percent of Aston Martin in 2012 in what was the fund's best-known investment in Britain. The fund, which has clinched a number of Southern European investments since its launch in 1990, is Aston Martin's single biggest investor and is driving the plans, the sources said. Beside Lazard, other investment banks have approached the private equity fund in recent weeks offering advice ahead of a possible IPO, another source said. Yet no other mandates will be awarded this year for the Gaydon-based firm, which is in the midst of a turnaround plan that aims to restore the business to profitability following six years of losses. Aston Martin, which recently unveiled its new Vantage model, is on course to post its first annual pre-tax profit since 2010 as strong demand for the luxury automaker's DB11 sports car boosts its performance.

Pre-Race notes from the 2015 Nurburgring 24-Hours

Autoblog has come to the German countryside to watch the Nurburgring 24-Hour race, and just one day in, we have to say it's outstanding. Le Mans has been the highlight of our summer racing schedule for the past few years, the 'Ring 24-Hour event being the appetizer we always skipped. Earlier this year, however, while visiting Miami to check out the Cigarette Racing 50 Marauder GT S, we met Scott Preacher. He oversees digital marketing for both Cigarette and AMG during the week, then comes to Germany to compete in the VLN race series on the weekends, driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for Team Mathol. If Le Mans is the Oscars of endurance racing, the Nurburgring 24-Hour race is the Screen Actors Guild award – the one voted on by the actors, for the actors. In this case it's the race by the teams and fans, for the teams and fans, even though the increasing manufacturer presence has altered the team equation. We were told that it wasn't so long ago that true privateers could win the overall, but that's not really the case anymore. Front-running teams have heavy factory involvement – Audi Sport Team Phoenix, for instance, which finished in first and third last year, has its own 'Ring race center and is running the 2016 R8; Aston Martin is represented by Aston Martin Racing and Aston Martin Test Center, and Bentley has a Bentley Motors team and uses HPT to run another team. The fan component hasn't changed, though, and you can't talk about the race for more than 60 seconds before someone brings up the battalions of spectators. Every driver we spoke to cited them as the most incredible part of this race after the track itself. It feels to us like a giant German Sebring, with thousands of people camped out in the ginormous, forested infield, many of whom have been here since Monday erecting their ornate camping compounds. There will be parties everywhere Saturday night, and so much bratwurst on the grill that the drivers can smell it when as they're blasting full speed through Wehrseifen. Even when we drove a Mercedes S63 AMG Coupe on a lap before the race, the fans waved like it was a competition. Scott Preacher's Australian co-driver Robert Thompson said, "You come around a corner and it's like you're driving full speed through the middle of a carnival." The race field itself could also be called a carnival, with an officially invited field of more than 170 cars. Even on a track that's 24.4-km long, that's like racing on the 405 at midday.